1.1 Introduction

The Japanese language (にほんご日本語, Nihongo) is spoken by around 126 million people, mainly in Japan. You are about to start a rewarding journey — Japanese has a logical structure, consistent pronunciation, and a writing system that, while unfamiliar at first, becomes intuitive surprisingly quickly.

What makes Japanese different

Japanese works quite differently from European languages. Instead of using word order to show meaning, it uses small words called particles to mark the role of each word in a sentence. Verbs come at the end of the sentence. These differences can feel strange at first, but they follow consistent rules that you will get used to quickly.

Japanese also has different levels of politeness built into the language. Different forms are used depending on whether you are speaking to a stranger, a colleague, or a close friend. This course uses the polite form throughout, which is safe to use in most everyday situations.

Sounds and pronunciation

Japanese pronunciation is regular and easy to get started with. It uses five vowel sounds: a, i, u, e, o. Most words are built from simple consonant-vowel pairs, and there are very few sounds that do not exist in English. Getting the basics right is not difficult.

Vocabulary

Japanese vocabulary comes from three main sources: native Japanese words, words originally borrowed from Chinese (used in many formal and technical contexts), and modern loanwords mainly from English (used for technology, food, and international concepts). As an English speaker, you will recognize many words once you learn to read them.

Writing systems

Japanese uses three main writing systems:

• Hiragana (ひらがな): the basic syllabary, used for grammar and common words
• Katakana (かたかなカタカナ): used mainly for foreign loanwords and emphasis
• Kanji (かんじ漢字): characters originally borrowed from Chinese, used for nouns and core meanings

In addition, romaji is sometimes used to write Japanese with the Latin alphabet, mainly for learners, signs, or input methods.

The first step is to learn hiragana and katakana. Each character represents a sound, and there are 46 basic characters in each set. Once you know them, you can read almost anything written in kana — and everything else will start to fall into place.

Grammar and sentence structure

Japanese sentences place the verb at the end. Particles show the role of each word. Verbs and adjectives change form to express tense, politeness, or negation.

The lessons that follow will walk you through each system step by step. There is no need to rush — take your time and enjoy the process.